Employee Retention Strategies - Different retention strategies adopted in corporate

Flexible working hours

You have to realize the importance of having a work-life balance. You might be a workaholic who needs to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for you to be productive, leaving little time for your personal life. While that might work for you, you cannot expect the same from your employees. If needed, you have to let them take some time off for a well-deserved vacation or other situations which needs a little understanding on your part. Do not begrudge your best employees of the time they need for themselves. This would help solve unease and stress in the workplace.

Timely Promotions

Employee promotions given within time or given in-time after gaining certain experience or given without any delay, makes employee feel belongingness towards organisation. In many cases and in many reports emphasised about in-time promotions make positive influence on retention of employees in the organisation. Employee promotions plays a key role, especially in the public sector and government organisations. As a corrective measure to stop flow of resignations and for employee retention in Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in India planned for fast track promotions through performance appraisal of its employees.

Timely increments

Timely Increments in salary makes talented employees to stick to the organisation for long time. Many researches have found that the salary and increments were the core reasons behind leaving of employees to other organisations and competitor organisations attracts talent by showing sole monetary benefits, indeed most of the talent is getting attracted for this reason. It is universal fact and one has to accept that the monetary benefit is the core reason for an employee decision-making on retention in the organisation.

Employee Engagement

People may show up for work, but are they engaged and productive? People are more committed and engaged when they can contribute their ideas and suggestions. This gives them a sense of ownership.

The Sony Corporation is known for its ability to create and manufacture new and innovative products. In order to foster the exchange of ideas within departments, they sponsor an annual Idea Exposition. During the exposition, scientists and engineers display projects and ideas they are working on. Open only to Sony's employees, this process creates a healthy climate of innovation and engages all those who participate.

TD Industries in Dallas, TX has a unique way of making its employees feel valued and involved. One wall within the company contains the photographs of all employees who have worked there more than five years. Their "equality" program goes beyond the typical slogans, posters, and HR policies. There are no reserved parking spaces or other perks just for executives -- everyone is an equal. This is one reason why TD Industries was listed by Fortune magazine as one of the "Top 100 Best Places to Work."

Career Development Program

Every individual is worried about his/her career. You can provide them conditional assistance for certain courses which are beneficial from your business point of view. Conditional assistance means the company will bear the expenses only if he/she gets an aggregate of certain percentage of marks. And entrance to that course should be on the basis of a Test and the number of seats to be limited. For getting admitted to such program, You can propose them to sign a bond with the company, like they cannot leave the company for 2 years or something after the successful completion of the course.

35% of women left former employee due to lack of opportunities for career progression: PwC report

A report by PwC suggests that 35% of women respondents who had recently changed employers left their former employee cited lack of opportunities for career progression as the primary reason. PwC surveyed 4,792 professionals (3,934 women, 845 men) with recent experience of the jobs market from 70 countries to find out about their career aspirations and employer diversity experiences and expectations.

The report named – Winning the fight for female talent: How to gain the diversity edge through inclusive recruitment –looks at what employers can do to attract and retain female talent.

Female and male respondents ranked opportunities for career progression among the top three employer traits, along with competitive wages and flexible work arrangements. Female career starters and female millennials identified this as the most attractive employer trait, as did women overall in Brazil, China, France, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa and the UAE, according to a release.

Organisations are using innovative programmes to attract key female talent, the release stated. For example, returnship programmes are proving to be a successful bridge for talented professionals to return to work after an extended career break. Over a quarter (28%) of employers have already adopted a formal returner programme, and a further 25% are currently exploring this opportunity, suggesting employers are recognising the potential of these programmes

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/57533767.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Performance based Bonus

The employee always comes to know about the profit of the company which is of course based on the strategic planning of the top management and the productivity of the employee. To get more work out of the employee, You can make a provision of Bonus. By this employee will be able to relate himself with the company’s profit and hence will work hard. This bonus should be productivity based. You can make sure that this bonus is not adding extra-pressure on the budget of Your Company and you can arrange this by cutting a part of the salary hikes and presenting it to the employees in the form of bonus.

Employee Referral Plan

You can introduce Employee Referral Plan. This will reduce your cost (charges of external consultants and searching agencies) of hiring a new employee and up to an extent you can rely on this new resource. On every successful referral, employee can be given a referral bonus after 6 or 9 months of continuous working of the new employee as well as the existing employee. By this you can get a new employee at a reduced cost as well as are retaining the existing one for a longer period of time.

Loyalty Bonus

You can introduce a Loyalty Bonus Program in which you can reward your employee after a successful completion of a specified period of time. This can be in the form of Money or Position. This will encourage the fellow employees as well whether they are interested in money or position, they will feel fascinated.

Employee Recreation

You should also let your employees enjoy in a light mood. You can take your employees to a trip or for an outing every year or bi-yearly. You can make use of this trip as well. You can start this trip with an opening note about the management views and plans, strategies etc. At the same time you can involve your top management into some of the fun activities as this will make feel the employees that they are very close to the management and everybody is same.

Gifts at some Occasions

You can give some gifts at the time of one or two festivals to the employees making them feel good and understand that the management is concerned about them.

Accountability

You should make each employee accountable so that he can also feel that he is as important as his manager. If he/she will be filled with this sense, he/she will seldom think of leaving the company.

Making the management effective and easily accessible- You should make the management easily accessible so that the employee expectations can be clearly communicated to the top management, as it is impossible for the top management to reach each employee frequently.

Surveys for feedbacks from employee - You should conduct regular surveys for feedbacks from employee about their superiors as well as other issues like food, development plans and other suggestions. This will make them feel of their importance and the caring nature of the company. Some of the suggestions might be of real good use for the company.

Employee referral program- according to the recent survey it is found that employees within organisation feel motivated if references of them given importance while recruitment of employees. Employee referral program surprisingly raising employee retention level of organisation, which also became a human resource strategy for employee retention.

Facts [+]

Employee surveys valuable to enhance business productivity: Survey

Nearly 32% HR managers voted employee surveys as a useful tool to examine employee perception about the organization across levels in a survey conducted by TJinsite, research and knowledge arm of TimesJobs.com. "An employee survey can be one of the most powerful tools for management in assessing the effectiveness of its strategy and maximizing the potential in its human capital", alleged Sakshi Khera, HR-Head, Da Milano.

HR managers are switching to employee surveys to address issues such as work location, gauge employee desire, and capture employee aspirations related to career. And, these surveys also help employers to understand what employee feels about the company's culture, practices, supervisor, development opportunities and working conditions. Any companies are including survey results on their "dashboard," recognizing how important employee perceptions are in making the company's vision a reality. When properly designed, implemented and analysed, employee surveys help management take action to align operations with its strategy, values and goals, states Khera.

Apart from studying the effectiveness of the current measures, surveys help the management in understanding the internal image of the organization amongst employees. This helps the HR team to develop programs to change the employee perception if needed and frame policies that will address issues that arise out of the change.

During a Skills Dialogue session, a series of high powered panel discussions by TimesJobs.com, industry experts have pointed that employee surveys are beneficial for organizations to identify and bridge gaps in employee expectations from the company. It is apparent that businesses are progressively using the results from surveys of employee teams and business units as predictive tools for customer satisfaction and business performance. Results are used to make appropriate adjustments in leadership practices, training initiatives and business processes. It's simple, "if you don't take care of your employee's, somebody else will".

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/jobs/employee-surveys-valuable-to-enhance-business-productivity-survey/articleshow/13688834.cms

Workforce Planning

Workforce planning is done by companies to assess the employee requirement for businesses. It is a decision-making process to make sure that companies have the right people in their organization, and at the right time.

To make sure that the right decisions are made, the human resource department assesses the business needs, skills required to carry out operations, and which employees will be a good fit for the company.

Phases of Workforce Planning

To ensure that the right people are hired at the right time, the HR department should plan according to these phases.

Strategic Direction

Setting a strategic direction for your workforce plan is the first and foremost step that you should take. Consider the business needs, the required experience and skill level, and the mission of the organization. Understanding these aspects will help you set the workforce plan in accordance with organizational needs.

Supply & Demand Analysis

Conducting a supply and demand analysis will help assess your current workforce needs and how it is expected to change over time. It also helps understand how the current workforce is projected to change over time. All this is connected to business needs and the organization mission. Once the mission is outlined, workforce planning becomes easier.

Implementing the Plan

Once the right skills and competencies are identified, it is time to implement the plan. Lay out the planning process and specify the workflow management method to everyone in the department. Next, make sure that the same plan is implemented and followed for workforce hiring. If this crucial aspect is not considered, the workforce planning will be inconsistent and will not match your organization’s goal.

Analyzing the Results

Once the workforce planning is implemented, it is time to analyze the results. Assess the employee competencies, their way of working, whether they are the right fit and most importantly, is your workforce planning contributing towards the organization’s mission or not. If the results are unfavourable, it is time that you rework the workforce planning, and implement it again.

Employee Retention

Employee retention is another essential HR strategy that should be designed carefully. Retaining employees is an important aspect that businesses should consider making sure that the right talent stays with the company. On the other hand, the cost of employee turnover is extremely high. Not a lot of companies can sustain with high turnover. Moreover, high employee turnover also suggests that the company does not value its employees and does not invest in them. This creates a bad reputation for the company in the industry which ultimately impacts the operations.

To ensure that the turnover rate is maintained, and employees are retained, there are a lot of strategies. However, the ones mentioned below are the most practical and will certainly help companies keep their employees happy.

Employee Retention Strategies

While a lot of retention strategies have been outlined by various research and authors, the following are the most important and should be implemented by all companies.

Open Communication

By opening communication channels, you give your employees the right to question and the confidence that they can share anything that they want to – personal and professional. Managers and leaders should empathize and understand what their employees are going through, just like they understand what their customers want. To make sure that employees communicate openly and effectively, regular one-to-one meetings can be set up. Results of all such meetings should be analyzed and actions should be taken accordingly.

Implementing an Effective Feedback Culture

A lot of companies do not realize that feedback is a two-way process. Business leaders provide feedback to their employees, but do not take feedback from employees regarding the organization and their managers. This should be done as it is an important process to make sure that employees feel valued, they are confident that their voice is being heard and that their suggestions are taken seriously by the company.

Investing in their Growth and Development

Not all businesses invest in employee growth and development. Companies should understand that this investment is in their favor and will benefit their own business. The ROI for this investment is much higher than the investment itself. Employees will be able to learn more and will implement the same in the business.

Offering Unique Benefits

Monetary and non-monetary benefits are a key to retaining employees. If companies are serious about retaining top talent, they will have to offer something out of the box to their employees. Rewarding them for their efforts, appreciating and encouraging them for their hard work are only some of the non-monetary benefits that the company can offer. Businesses can offer medical insurance, paid leaves or vacations, etc. as monetary benefits. These will certainly help retain employees.

Maintaining a Work-Life Balance

A huge number of employees quit their job because they are unable to find the right work-life balance. When businesses fail to provide employees the right work-life balance and put them under work stress, they do not get their desired results. Providing employees with the right balance is in favor of both, the employees, and the business. When employees are relaxed and stress-free, they are able to perform much better.

Planning and retaining workforce are crucial aspects of human resources. To make sure that the business flourishes, the department should be able to find the right strategies to plan, hire and retain employees. Businesses reach new heights only when they have the right people to follow the company’s mission and achieve its goal.

Different retention strategies adopted in corporate

Rekindle (Amazon)

Amazon has launched "rekindle", an initiative to encourage women on a professional break to resume their corporate career. As part of this initiative, the company will provide structured on-boarding, focused mentoring, flexible work options and on the job learning to the candidates.

rekindle aims to provide a launch pad to women who have had an extended absence from work in their career due to any circumstances and encourage them to come to Amazon and pursue their career goals.

This program is open to any candidate who has prior experience that matches the job requirements for the identified positions. The release further stated, "Candidates will go through a structured assessment process comprising of a telephonic interview and multiple in-person interviews. Basis the performance during these interviews, final hiring decision will be made for the position."

Zero attrition among maternity-leave women; P&G retains ‘returning’ mothers with unique solutions

NEW DELHI,2012: Procter & Gamble India has earned a unique distinction - for the third year in a row, it has reported zero attrition among returning mothers. The company has managed to retain all the women who went on maternity leave, a crucial talent pool, through sustained solutions. Only a few years ago, an alarmed business leadership was staring at the dwindling pipeline of woman talent in the company - up to 30% of women on maternity leave were not returning to work. The uncomfortable gaps were visible when women in late 20s got married and moved if the spouse was located in a different city or when they had their first child.

Lack of support system at the workplace and at home triggered the exodus. The solutions P&G came up with, were built around flexible timing, working from home, reduced work schedules, parental leave, six months' paid maternity leave and location-free roles, among others.

Maruti Suzuki, Indian car manufacturer uses stay interviews to keep flock together

Exit interviews, when employees quit, are common practice in many companies. But automobile major Maruti Suzuki India Ltd(MSIL) is using 'stay interviews' to cement a long-term tie with its employees. For the past three years, MSIL has regularly reached out to its employees to understand their aspirations, problems and expectations. It has subsequently come up with several changes in the performance ratings scale, career progression policy and employee referrals.

"It makes sense to probe employee minds while they are still working in the company and take their feedback for changes rather than asking for it after losing them to competition. Then you have the time to implement these," says SY Siddiqui, MSIL managing executive officer, administration (HR, finance, IT) (Dt.2012). Senior employees, from the post of DGM and above, are specially trained to conduct such interviews. The idea is to make candidates comfortable and draw their views in an informal conversation. Based on their feedback, the company has brought in several changes in its HR policies.

Or they can make the employees complete a survey and mail it in after they have left. Using an outside person can also be efficient in providing a neutral party that an employee may feel more comfortable openly talking with.

Although exit interviews can give way to valuable information, they only offer a partial picture of how employees feel. At a recent Society for Human Resource Management conference, presenter Dick Finnegan talked about using "stay interviews" to gather insights. He asserted that exit interviews are "autopsies that seldom lead to improvements. "Instead with stay interviews, managers allow employees to know they want them to stick around, and ask them what they can do to keep them at the firm. This sends a powerful signal to current employees that the employer values them and wants to meet their needs. Another idea for keeping hold of top talent is for the company to reward its managers for holding onto their stars. This would persuade them to be more proactive about gathering feedback to find out how their employees feel about working at the firm. - 6 Feb, 2012, The Economic Times, News paper